Transcript GIS

Public Health and GIS
590f: Computing in the Developing World
Ruth Anderson & Yaw Anokwa
1-17-07
Presentation Outline
•
•
•
•
GIS in health in the developed world
MARA (Mapping Malaria in Africa)
Paper #1: GIS in health in Africa
Paper #2: GIS in Malaria in Indonesia
GIS in health in the Developed World?
• Improving Research
– Mapping Cancer data shows geographic trends -> links
to environmental factors
• Targeting Resources
– Lead Paint Screening in Indiana – target high risk
housing types & socioeconomic makeup
• Improving Community Programs
– Marketing Anti-Smoking or Cancer Screening
Messages to most likely “customers”
• Initial Responses to Bioterrorism
– Location and inventories of supplies& trained personal
Malaria in Africa
The Unknowns:
• Maps of Severity and Risk
• Unreliable records of death and sickness
• Which populations are exposed to risk
How to allocate limited resources for control
of Malaria?
MARA Project
Atlas of Malaria in Africa
• http://www.mara.org.za/
• http://www.mara.org.za/mapsinfo.htm
The Application of Geographical
Information Systems to Important
Public Health Problems in Africa
Tanser & le Sueur
International Journal of Health Geographics
December 2002
Africa and Disease
Africa is hit hard by Disease:
– HIV - leading cause of death in Africa
– TB – leading infectious cause of death worldwide
– Malaria – 90% of world cases are in Africa
Disease and Geography
– HIV - leading cause of death in Africa
• Prevalence of STIs
• Human Migration from rural to urban areas
• Intensified by natural disasters & conflicts
– TB – leading infectious cause of death worldwide
• HIV infected persons at higher risk
• Treatment is cost-effective
– Malaria – 90% of world cases are in Africa
• Armed conflicts, migrations of non-immune populations, climate
patterns, socioeconomic patterns, nutritional status
• Holds back economic growth <-> flourishes in disadvantaged
communities
Paper Outline
•
•
•
•
•
Africa’s Health Priorities
GIS Research in health in Africa
Trends in GIS
Obstacles to GIS in health in Africa
Feasible uses of GIS in health in Africa
Space and Disease
• Disease Transmission Modes:
– TB & HIV - rely on close human contact
– Malaria – mosquito flight distance
• Environmental Factors:
– Climate – Malaria
– Social Environment – HIV, TB
GIS Research in Africa
• Malaria
– most widely studied
• TB
– only a few uses (South Africa)
– could have a big role
• HIV
– one study (HIV vs. accessibility to roads)
– Difficulty obtaining data (stigma of HIV)
GIS Work in Progress in Africa
• Inequalities in population per bed ratios
• Fieldworker workload
• Measures of clinic usage and interaction
vs. distance traveled to attend
• Wealth vs. Health outcomes
• Clinic access and Maternal & child health
GIS Trends
• GIS: tool-> science
– Analogy to Epidemiology in the 1970’s
• Computer Hardware is cheaper & powerful
• Software has improved
– user friendly, standard data formats,
inexpensive software
• GPS units: cheaper and more accurate
– more projects will tend to collect geo data
Obstacles to GIS in health in Africa
1. Lack of Qualified Staff
– Pilot or research projects vs. Operational
systems
– Controlled by outsiders
A: Develop capacity by developing African staff
Obstacles to GIS in health in Africa
2. Lack of GIS data sets
– Difficult and expensive
– Decentralized and uncoordinated collection
A: Pool Resources
– Establish National Databases
– Forestry, Ecology, Archaeology, Epidemiology
A: Sentinel geo-referenced surveillance sites
– follow up a designated population intensively over time
– to illuminate small–scale patterns
A: Remotely-sensed data sets
– e.g. mosquito habitat
Obstacles to GIS in health in Africa
3. Convincing Key Players of costeffectiveness
– Analogy to Epidemiology
Feasible uses of GIS in health in Africa
1. Research Tool
•
•
High end GIS systems
Analytical functionality
2. Health Planning and Management Tool
•
•
•
Low end systems
Overlay disease patterns and health
facilities
Rapid manipulation for decision making